An open letter to Terry Wilkins

Here is the text of an open letter that I have sent to Cllr Terry Wilkins:

Dear Cllr Wilkins,

I believe that it is time that you resigned from your position as Cornwall Councillor and Illogan Parish Councillor.

You have falsely claimed to have been awarded an MBE. This false claim was used during your election campaign. You say that you have never used your false MBE for personal gain – however, you were elected as Terry Wilkins MBE and you now hold a public office along with an allowance paid for by council tax payers.

It is a criminal offence – electoral fraud – to make a false statement as to the character of a candidate during an election.

Your explanation of how you came to make a false claim about being awarded an MBE makes you appear as a victim – I would say that the real victims are the people of Illogan who have trusted in your integrity.

There are also several problems with your account of how you became a victim of a malicious hoax. For example, you have said in your statements to the media, that you never went to Buckingham Palace to receive your award. On the other hand, I have had several concerned Illogan residents approach me who have told me that, in the past, you have related to them a story of how you actually went to the Palace and met the Queen. Perhaps you have an explanation for this as both accounts clearly can’t be accurate?

It has also become clear that you have demonstrated a clear lack of integrity as a member of both Cornwall Council and Illogan Parish Council.

You have admitted to lying about having a degree, claiming that it was just a game that you were playing to embarrass some un-named person who was jealous of you. If this is true then why did you use your official report as a Cornwall Councillor to play your game and lie to Illogan Parish Council? You were absolutely clear in your March report to Illogan Parish Council that you had been awarded a degree. You embellished the story with the ‘fact’ that you had ‘graduated’ with a ‘2:1’. You also made it seem that your modesty would have prevented you from informing the councillors present except for the fact that your wife had insisted on you including it in your report. You enjoyed the congratulations and applause from your fellow councillors – and now you claim that this was all part of a ‘game’ that you were playing. It is a funny sort of game to blatantly lie in your official capacity as a Cornwall Councillor to the assembled members of a local authority. In my opinion this shows a total lack of respect for the offices that you hold, your fellow councillors and the organisations that you represent.

I would urge you now to reconsider your stance that you are completely innocent of any kind of wrongdoing.  In order to avoid further embarrassment to yourself, might it not be wise to simply to step down now?

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Richardson LL.B